Newly Nominated Surgeon General Will Need To Talk More Openly About HIV/AIDS, Opinion Piece Says

Newly nominated Surgeon General Regina Benjamin has a "tall order" ahead of her being "[c]hief health educator" of the U.S., "and, if confirmed, she will have to talk to us all in terms we plainly understand," Lorraine Teel, executive director of the Minnesota AIDS Project, writes in a Minneapolis Star Tribune opinion piece. She adds, "But when it comes to unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS, the message becomes more difficult" than messages related to nutrition and obesity. Teel says that "former Surgeon Generals tried to educate us," on HIV/AIDS, such as Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, but he "was prevented from speaking frankly." Teel continues, "Let's hope that this Surgeon General's administration sounds the alarm, loud and clear, about HIV. A major factor in why we are not winning the battle against AIDS is because we have been forced to only politely talk about risk" (7/1).